A Little Taste Of Forgiveness
by Rose Verdict
Summary: Transcendence AU A sweet one-shot about when Toby discovers who he once was. Character List: Toby (Bill), Dipper (as Alcor), Bridget (Acacia), and Jared (Soos). To be cross-posted on tumblr. Cover image off Google.


**boop**

 **The characters might be OOC but I honestly don't give a flying buttwing. It was sweet, it needed writing, and I needed to forcibly declare my alliance to the Transcendence AU fandom.**

 **One brainfart, coming up!**

* * *

Toby woke to knocking on his bedroom door.

"Hey, Toby, gotta get up if ya wanna get to school in the next 10 minutes!"

Sweet Sparkling Skittles, he'd overslept!

He threw himself to his closet and switched clothes in record time, hopping out on one foot as he tried to put on his shoes. Then he noticed the time.

He still had half an hour!

Now decidedly less frantic, Toby finished dressing and popped into the living room, where Alcor was laughing his head off, literally.

"Hahaha." Toby laughed sardonically. "Veeery funny."

Alcor wiped a golden tear of laughter from his eye. "Got ya up, didn't it?"

Toby picked up a book off the table. "Yes, yes it did." He conceded. Then he asked, "Are you reading this?" He held up the cover, where the title was emblazoned in glossy, golden lettering; "Stars & Triangles & So Much More! A History Of The Transcendence's Beginnings."

Alcor looked a bit closer. "Hmm, nope, haven't read that yet."

"Good." Toby plopped down into a chair to get a bit of reading in before school.

* * *

"Toby? Ya in there, dood?"

Toby shook himself from the book and looked up at his friends.

"Ah, there he is, the All-Knowing Toby realizes how little he actually knows." Bridget teased.

"Ahehe...sorry guys." Toby blushed madly at the All-Seeing Toby name.

"Oh, no worries. Whatcha readin'?" Jared asked.

Toby brightened up and held the cover where his friends could see it.

Bridget leaned onto his desk to get a better look. "'Stars & Triangles,' huh? Why are you reading that?"

"Well, Dadrone had it on his table, and he didn't mind, so..." Toby turned the page, yelped, and slammed the book shut.

Jared immediately snatched the book from Toby's hands. "Alright, what scared the pants offa ya?" He flipped through the book until he got to a pagespread with a finger-shaped dent in it from where Toby had his fingers in it. "And turn the page, and...woah."

Bridget peeked over Jared's shoulder. "No way, there's a page about Bill Cipher!"

Toby tried to ignore his friends as they took turns reading the section aloud, but made them go back and reread a part.

"Only one incarnation of Bill has been verified, and it was revealed that the demon Alcor initially held distrust for him. However, due to certain circumstances that have not been revealed to the public, Alcor saved the incarnation from the morally ambiguous government of the time. For more information, see 'Alcor.'"

"Can I have the book back now?" Toby asked. Once it was returned, he flipped from the creepy artist's rendering of Bill to the significantly less willies-inducing image of Alcor.

"Alcor the Dreambender has no known records pre-Transcendence. In spite of this, he is an extremely powerful dream demon. Certain sources claim he is a very goofy personality, however they are far outweighed by the accounts of his wrath. His anger is mostly brought down upon those who offend against children, although certain others have been brought into his protection, most likely those he knew in previous incarnations. It has now been revealed that, due to unspecified reasons, he was offended against greatly by Bill Cipher. Accounts differ as to what and how, but what is generally accepted is that Bill attempted to take over the planet, but was foiled by Alcor and Mizar. Alcor then apparently ended Bill somehow. For more information, see 'Bill Cipher' and 'Mizar.'"

A moment of stunned silence passed, then Bridget remarked, "It's a good thing it's lunchtime, or else we'd be in such trouble with the teacher right now." The guys laughed with her, relieving the tension.

But Toby had a nagging feeling that this train of thought wasn't over.

* * *

After school, Toby tossed the book back on the table. "Alcor? I'm home!" When he didn't get a response, he looked around and found a note.

"Hey Toby, somebody summoned me, so I had to go. Be back soon." It was signed with Alcor's rune.

Toby took the opportunity to go over his little homework. Thankfully, it was Friday, so when he finished and Alcor still wasn't back, he settled in for a nap.

In his dream, Toby stumbled through a forest of pine trees and into a clearing. In it stood ten people and-OH GLITTER AND BOWTIES THAT WAS BILL CIPHER IN THE MIDDLE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE-

"Bill!" yelled one of the boys. "It's over! Give up the ghost!"

Toby's jaw dropped as Bill screamed out, "NEVER!" and not just because his voice was all demonic and scary and whatnot.

It was because, under all the evil power, that was TOBY'S voice.

And the boy had a (significantly less demonic) voice identical to Alcor's.

Bill rushed at the boy and tried to possess him, only to be forced out. As the two screamed in agony, the scene dissolved into blackness.

"Hello, Toby."

The voice echoed all around the teen. He whirled around to face Bill Cipher, no longer going through the motions of the dream.

"B-B-Bill!" Toby flopped backwards in shock.

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" cackled the triangle.

"How are you here? Weren't you destroyed by...that whatever-it-was?"

Bill smirked (maybe). "You should know the answer, shouldn't you?"

Toby immediately realized what Bill was trying to say. "NO! I WON'T BECOME YOU!"

Bill laughed. "You kinda had no choice, me!"

Toby tried to turn and run, but only managed to mentally exhaust himself.

"Are ya done, Triangle? Because Alcor's gonna be home any minute and I can't very well be active when he shows." Bill stated as casually as if he was talking about the weather.

Immediately catching the slip-up, Toby grinned. "Is he now? Because if this is our shared mind, aren't I in control of what it does as much as you?" Bill realized his mistake before Toby continued. "Not being the dominant personality has made ya rusty, Bill. Now, how to go about waking up..?"

* * *

Alcor reconstituted in the room right as Toby flung himself awake. He wouldn't have worried about the boy (no, the boy's sanity, he tried to remind himself) if it hadn't been for Toby glomping onto him within seconds.

"Uh...Toby...what..?" Alcor questioned.

When Toby looked up at him with those sweet, puppy eyes, Alcor could've sworn there was more guilt in them.

"Lemme guess, bad dream?" the demon suggested.

Toby just murmured The Two Words that Alcor dreaded. "I remember."

"Wh-what?"

Oh boy, the floodgates opened. "Well I was reading that book and Jared and Bridget took a look and I looked up some things and I had a bad feeling but I ignored it-" Toby took a deep breath "-then when I got home I took a nap and I saw the Transcendence start and then Bill showed up and told me that we share a soul and I made myself wake up but he was really scary and I saw what he did-" Inhaled again "-and I just knew it was true and I'm just so so so sorry for everything he did!" Toby broke down into tears, leaving Alcor a confused mess.

This was Bill's soul reincarnated, wasn't it? If it was Bill's personality, then Alcor would have most likely come home and fallen into a trap after something like what Toby was talking about.

But this is Toby's personality. Toby, who wouldn't hurt a fly. Toby, who was constantly apologizing. Toby, who was currently sobbing into Alcor's suit in repentance for what a past incarnation had done.

"Hey, Toby." Alcor sank down to where he could look the boy in the eye. Toby merely looked down at his feet until Alcor gently put his hand under Toby's chin and made him look him in the eye.

"Look, I can't very well forgive you for what Bill did, but you and him are two completely different people." Alcor began.

Toby sniffled. "But his soul is mine..."

"Yeah, that may be so," Alcor conceded, "but that doesn't make you the same person as him. He was a selfish, evil jerk out to party the world to its death. But you're a selfless, kindhearted boy out to protect the world from yourself." He ruffled Toby's hair. "I'm only gonna say this once, but...I love ya Toby. You're a sweet kid, so don't let anyone-this includes your past self-screw you up."

They stood there, hugging, for a long time.

* * *

 **oh my GOSH of ALL THE FANDOMS I had to find it was THIS ONE *SCREAMS***

 **WELP I'M GONNA GO WORK OFF THE FLUFF SO I CAN GET BACK TO GRIT**

 **AND NO I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT TWF OR ZEDONE OR SHUT DOWN OR THE EARTHLY ADVENTURES I'VE JUST BEEN HAVING THE WORST CASE OF WRITER'S BLOCK IN HISTORY!**

 **XD**

 **FOOD EATER VERDICTA IS OUT! PEACE!**


End file.
